You can see it in the way Garrett Grayson carries himself these days. A bit more free and easy, at home with himself and his standing with his teammates. The senior quarterback is free to joke a little bit more, show more of his personality. You can see it in the Twitter banter he had back and forth with Bernard Blake when Blake shot out a photo of himself in the locker room wearing Grayson's jersey, proclaiming the quarterback to be his favorite player. And when sending out congratulations to former center Weston Richburg on his first NFL game, he ends it with the hashtag: itoucheditfirst.

Naturally, he's not free from barbs inside his locker room. One can't be when he breaks his clavicle moving his couch. There's just too many jokes there to let pass.

But it's all good, and why shouldn't it be? After establishing the school record with 3,696 passing yards as a junior and tying the school mark with 23 touchdown passes, there should be a comfort level that goes beyond knowing it won't be another fall camp spent fighting for the starting job.

"Coming off of last year, the way he finished, he should carry himself with some confidence," Colorado State coach Jim McElwain said. "At that position, let's not bleed the line of confidence to arrogance. He's definitely not arrogant, but the way he carries himself on the field in command of the huddle with the guys around him, helping the O-linemen with the Mike points and those types of things, you can tell he's taken it to a new level and not maybe relying on Weston Richburg to do those things."

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But no longer are the compliments limited to the borders of Fort Collins. What Grayson was able to do last year, especially the final three-fourths of the season, increased his stock around the Mountain West. It's not just coaches, either, the guys who are prone to say nice things about the opponents they face. The guys who will try to stop his progress this season are looking at him in a different light.

"I think you have to look at him as an elite quarterback in the league," Air Force linebacker Connor Healy said. "He's proven himself under the fire, he knows what he's doing. He's a good player."

But it took some time. It was a more mature Grayson who took the field later in the 2013 season, the product of lessons learned. After first breaking his clavicle as a sophomore, he sank into a bit of a shell, and both he and the coaching staff say that wasn't the posture to take.

Even after earning the starting job last year, the season didn't come easy. There were struggles in the first four games, leading Grayson to do some soul searching.

Which led to him turning things around in a major way. He found himself watching more film, preparing better. The result was six 300-yard passing games the final nine weeks of the season.

As the offensive numbers started to take off for the Rams, Grayson started to take more of a leadership role. Now his command of the huddle and the offense as a whole has reached a new level.

His opponents see that, too.

"I think they're going to be a big challenge, and I think Grayson has a lot to do with that," Boise State defensive back Corey Bell said. "I think he runs that whole group and gets them all together, and I think he's one of those guys who should be up there when you're talking about conference players, top players.

"He's right up there with (Utah State's) Chuckie Keeton, (Nevada's Cody) Fajardo and (BSU's Grant) Hedrick. I think he's right up there with all those guys. I can't rank them, they're all top 1 right now. He's definitely one of those guys, a competitor, a good player and a good athlete as well."

The thought from the Colorado State locker room is it's about time.

While the quarterback job remained up for grabs deep into fall camp last year, in the background, the players said they always knew Grayson was their guy. When times were tough early in the season, they stayed behind him because they knew there was something there.

"It don't surprise me at all," CSU senior receiver Charles Lovett said. "We see him every day in practice, on and off the field. We see how he studies, we see how he prepares for the game, so no, it really doesn't surprise me. I feel like he doesn't get talked about enough, honestly."

But word is spreading. Grayson was able to meet his idol, Peyton Manning, at the Manning Passing Academy this summer. He didn't just listen, he learned and came back with ideas and new habits to incorporate into his preparation.

Grayson said when they did drills, Manning did them, too. And when he did something wrong, he went back and did it again. So Grayson asked offensive coordinator Dave Baldwin if the Rams could do that, as well.

Then there was the video study. Grayson said the figure is 80 hours a week for Manning. Baldwin said that Grayson improved in that regard last year, but now he has the feeling his senior quarterback really understands.

He also has a new team-issued iPad to put to good use.

"Usually after practices you go home and you sit on your bed and try and relax and get some sleep, and now you can have it right there in front of your face, watch as much film as you want," Grayson said. "That definitely made everything easier. Now during the season I won't have to come back to the school to watch film. I can go home, relax in the comfort of my home and watch everything I need to watch."

The problem with being known sometimes can be the sense one has arrived, that there's no more work to do. The CSU coaching staff doesn't sense that at all from Grayson, and neither do his teammates.

They've seen him more take charge even more, even enter a room like Manning explained a quarterback should — like he's the one in charge. And just like Manning taught him, Grayson said there's always more work to be done.

Because while it's nice to be noticed, it's better to win games.

"I'm humbled and honored by it, very thankful," he said. "I don't want to get complacent I guess with it. Anytime all that stuff starts coming around people can get complacent, and nothing good ever comes from it. I want to keep building on what I did last year, and hopefully I can get some more praise, have a good season this year.

"Like I said, I'm very thankful to be mentioned with Chuckie and Cody and all those guys, and last year, with (Fresno State's Derek) Carr and (San Jose State's David) Fales, all of them. Like I said, it's very humbling to be mentioned with all of them, and I'm just ready to get going for the season."